I think I placed first in the running category for number of miles run in January. That’s cool. Speaking of cool, this was a pretty cool event. I live out in the sticks. There are no races around here, so this motivated me to get out and have some fun. Basically all the people I ran with live in England, mostly Liverpool, I think. I love running events of all types, but I don’t always like driving an hour to get to one. Trying to find time to run this year was ultimately the biggest challenge. My family has grown by one since i completed this event last year (and placed a distant second behind the beastly Silver Metal Fox who ran 502 miles. Good God. It was like arm-wrestling Optimus Prime. So, thanks, Janathon people, for coming together again to make this a special community of fun and whatnot. I saw some incredible running going down, too.

Because of the freakishly cold weather, I didn’t get as many miles as I could have. The temps were so low some days it could really kill a jogger. I found my scurvy limit at 4F. My lungs filled with frost and got screwed up. It wasn’t until the sky cleared around 10 pm that I was able to breathe freely tonight. I have a hard time comprehending how much I ran this month, but I feel I left everything in my shoes. I am whooped!

These benches will be underwater in a couple more days

The river is still frozen. There are still inches and feet of snow on the ground. This polar blast of a winter gave me a chance to explore cold-running. I didn’t get to use all of my ideas, but at least I got into snorkel-breathing. Running at night in a ski mask with a snorkel hanging out of my mouth pretty much, in my mind anyways, pretty much remains the image I’ll use to remember this funfest. Last year, I ran a local cross country track a lot. i had a flexible schedule and ran at optimal times.

I ran across the bridge, did a riverside detour, then headed up and over the hill into California, PA. I did a circuit there, came back over the ridge and got bad chills. Wind blew the clouds away and the spectral night reached its cold tendrils into my damp running gear. I ducked into a store for a sugar blast. I was just exhausted. I had some Reese’s Cups, an energy drink, and this carried me about halfway home. I struggled all the way to the end. I’m writing this after finishing. I’m elated.

A half mile from my house I nearly stumbled over a raccoon curled in the gutter. It’s head was crushed and it’s body was heaving with its last breaths. I stopped for a second. I wanted to help it, but I also didn’t want to be bit by it. Earlier in the evening i watched a car nearly mow down a couple of deer sprinting across the road. I just don’t get why the second deer, after seeing the first deer coming close to an oncoming car, decides, ‘hey, that looks like a superb idea, I’ll run even closer to that deluge of whining metal flying at me’.And the deer ran straight onto the property of a local, very active gun club, ugh!. I’ll be happy when cars drive themselves.

The knee I injured last week during a marathon run, yes, it still hurt pretty bad, so i kept it slow. When I ran fast, the skin jiggled around too much and hurt like crazy. I stepped into the crunchy slush many a-time tonight. I’ll do well to get some more trail shoes to deal with the slippy slopes.